February 6, 2010

So here's Mark Leibovich, writing in the NYT, about the powerful political position Sarah Palin has devised for herself:

Ms. Palin represents a new breed of unelected public figures operating in an environment in which politics, news media and celebrity are fused as never before. Her growing cast of advisers and support system could be working in the service of any number of goals: a presidential run, a de facto role as the leader of the Tea Party movement, a lucrative career as a roving media entity — or all of the above. Whether she ever runs for anything else, Ms. Palin has already achieved a status that has become an end in itself: access to an electronic bully pulpit, a staff to guide her, an enormous income and none of the bother or accountability of having to govern or campaign for office....

... Ms. Palin is quietly assembling the infrastructure of an expanding political operation....

Ms. Palin has also enlisted a small team of policy counselors to guide her through the substantive areas in which many deemed her to be lacking in 2008....

People with knowledge of the daily briefings say they are conducted by phone or e-mail. They typically include information on the day’s news, material that could be relevant to an upcoming speech, or guidance about a candidate Ms. Palin might endorse....

[T]he question of Ms. Palin’s ambitions and abilities remain as much a mystery now as when she first stormed the national consciousness 18 months ago. They warn against any notion that she has any grand plan beside keeping faith that God would help her recognize “the next open door” (a favorite Palin refrain).

What I love about all this is the extreme contrast to the way Palin was mocked when she resigned as Governor of Alaska. I, myself, did not think it was stupid, because I pictured her doing something like what she is actually doing, but I certainly remember the derision. Her political career was over. She was "toast."

A big difference between what I pictured and what she's doing is that she's staying in Alaska. I thought she needed to get out of Alaska (in order to run for President). It's innovative the way she's staying in Alaska. As a blogger, operating from my remote outpost in Madison, Wisconsin, I love that she's working through Facebook and staying rooted in Wasila, Alaska. Fox News is building a TV studio in her house in Wasila. That's so not toast.

Ms. Palin represents a new breed of unelected public figures operating in an environment in which politics, news media and celebrity are fused as never before.

It is upsetting to read stuff like this. Obama worked the politics + news media + celebrity mix to a T, but the New York Times would never say that. Instead, they use this notion as a sort of derogatory label, flinging it out at Palin as if they want the world to understand that she's just a one-off retard.

I think the politics + news media + celebrity mix has been worked for ages. Julius Caesar comes to mind as someone who worked it successfully-- until he walked into a stab-party, that is.

Fox News is building a TV studio in her house in Wasila. That's so not toast.

True, and in this media environment, it's a mistake to assume anyone is toast. Some folks would have said that about Andrew Sullivan after the revelations came out about some of his personals ads. That having been said, her activities aren't just in Alaska (the article talks about her travels around the country), and are quite consistent with someone whose main goal is to make a lot of money as a conservative celebrity media figure rather than being an elected official, like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck. Money talks and there's no shame in listening to it.

This is a reference Revelation 3:8, or at least I'm pretty sure that's the allusion.

'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.'

In case anyone is interested. I don't know that she could quote the verse or even knows the source, it may just be something she heard at church a lot. It is fairly common Christian phraseology in more fundamental denominations.

I think for Palin it's partly the money, partly the fact that she actually believes in what she says, generally speaking; so, she'll be happy either remaining in her current niche or running for office--I don't think she's made those decisions yet for the long-term.

She seems to be a very happy person, so this stuff is not as life-defining for her as it is for others.

Poor Alpha. Can't quite admit that he was taken in in 2008 by both a con man and a grifter, and the nation is the poorer for it. Well, except for George Soros; that currency manipulator is vastly richer because his poodle, Obama, is in power. So Alpha projects.

What Palin is doing is marvelous. Ailes has a studio built in the garage of her new annex so she gets to stay grounded in Wasilla, then she gets to blitz the country weekly for the requirements of the chicken dinner circuit. Ailes wins. Palin wins. Obama loses.

Everybody is happy. Except Alpha Liberal and the Obamist crowd.

Remember when all the "progressives" used to come here and claim that Palin was an idiot? You don't here that claim much anymore.

This is an excellent analysis. I really don't think that Palin could make a run for a national office. In fact, in doing so it would diminish her power base. This is much the same as Jesse Jackson or any of the other power brokers in the US. That means that if you want the run on a conservative ticket, you will need to bend a knee to Ms. Palin.

Palin is on the move. Her rise will be measured in well-thought out steps. She knows how to stalk her prey. Her tactics so far indicate that she is not distracted by the yapping dogs who don't know what a Carhartt is.

Failure to know your enemy is the hallmark of the yapping dogs of the democratic base. Whether jihadist terrorists or interlopers like Palin having the temerity to intrude on their notion of privilege and entitlement, they remain blissfully ignorant of the change in rules.

The huntress will decide when to take them down and it will be, ironically, what Imperial China referred to as "The death of a thousand cuts."

I recall Betsy Ross put together our first flag. Symbols do count and I never underestimate the power of women and their sixth sense. Scorn them to your heart's content at your peril. Don't complain when reminded of that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Palin follows a similar arc of other charismatic sorts unqualified for the Presidency - but who had attracted throngs of devoted followers hanging on their every word.

Prime example?Jesse Jackson - Quit or forced out of several civil rights positions, became a man of the people. Got 18% of the Presidential primary vote in 1984 and almost 30% in 1988. Had his TV and radio syndicators build him a TV-radio studio at his home. Made 10s of millions off books, appearance fees, and airtime.Had staff guiding him on the latest news event or "racial crisis" that required his immediate speechifying or even jetting in (he had two charter companies in Chicago his media syndicators and corporate sponsors paid the tab on so Jesse could get on national news).He had his speeches and the promise he would lead his weeping and hootin and hollerin' devotees to the Promised Land as the new black Moses."You tell 'em Jesse!".

In a sense, devotees quite similar to the "You tell 'em Sarah!" Cult. Just 180 DEG apart on politics and race...and for the fact that Jesse's core bubbering devotees were middle-aged urban black female churchgoers while Goddess Palin attracts the middle-aged rural white male churchgoer.

In recent years, you could also add John Edwards, former football and basketball star in HS, who also had a TV-radio studio added to his home (and hairdressing salon and basketball court).And Pat Buchanan, "Tell 'em how it is!" Pitchfork Pat..

Sarah Palin. You have only to print the name and the lefties' heads begin to explode. What is it about dear Sarah that brings out this sputtering in our otherwise eloquent opposition? If she had aborted that beastly son of hers she might not be hated quite so much, but the truth is she can't be forgiven for that by our sensitive left wing.Hopefully she will make tons of money. It won't be as good as Clinton's haul or Obama's prospective haul( that will be a record setter: $350 million if its a penny)but it will be adequate. Good on her. And, as it suits her, she will come out to torment our re-branded progressive lefties.

Are they? I think the last time I heard someone use that was when Andy Pettitte left my beloved Houston Astros to return to the hated Yankees few years back. Pettitte was more direct in making it a reference to 'God opening a door' though.

I chopped off the part about 'God helping her recognize' the 'next open door' when I quoted it (though it is in the OP) because I didn't think that was necessary to make the point. I'd say that pushes it a bit farther towards a biblical reference.

I bet if you asked her she'd agree it is a statement grounded in her religious beliefs and I doubt she'd be shy about that.

Anyway, its not something I'd want to get in a big fat argument over. I don't think there's anything 'coded' about it. I think Palin is refreshingly open and direct about her faith and that is something I like about her.

She is going to be the Al Sharpton of the right. If you love her you will support everything she does because she will say what you really think unlike the weasely politicians. If you love them, you really, really love them. And if you hate them you really, really hate them.

Sharpton feeds red meat to his fans by blaming everything on white racism. If a tree falls on someone or there is a hurricane he blames it on racism. That's what his people believe to their bones.

He has an empire and makes a pretty penny off it. Keeps him in track suits and medallions.

Sarah can do the same. She can put everything into the prism of socialist big government types trying to take over your life.

C4's comparison of Palin to Jesse Jackson is pretty good in some respects. The biggest problem I see is that Ms Palin will never become the race-baiter/extortionist that the Rev Jackson has become in recent years.

I think what Sarah Palin wants is to have influence - on behalf of personal liberty, free markets, limited government, a protected but utilized environment and (yes) certain socially conservative but not exclusionist values. She could accomplish this by becoming Ronald Reagan or becoming Oprah, so she'll just build the brand and her own competencies and net worth and see what happens. (BTW, I believe there are six Presidential elections before she will be as old as Reagan was in 1980.)

Dave W said:Are they? I think the last time I heard someone use that was when Andy Pettitte left my beloved Houston Astros to return to the hated Yankees few years back. Pettitte was more direct in making it a reference to 'God opening a door' though.

What Andy really said was:"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I think you are dead right in your last comment, Michael, but let's hope that others are a little less right. Palin like Jackson or Sharpton? May it never be so. Hopefully she hears those comparisons and makes sure that she doesn't become a parody of herself...EVER.

Sarah Palin is amazing in part because she seems unaffected by wave after wave of high-profile public condescension -- the favored rhetorical weapon of liberals and the left against their political opponents.

Gerard Alexander, an associate professor of political science at the University of Virginia, wrote a great analysis of this weapon ("Why are liberals so condescending?") for this Sunday's Washington Post. (HT: NRO Corner) The article gives a useful frame of reference to the bizarro rantasies of writers like Mark Leibovitch.

(OT: My flight to the Twin Cities was cancelled due to the weather; but here in northern NJ there still hasn't been any snow. And, my building's water heater broke, so there's no hot water here. But I'm happy anyway.)

Palin has yet to make a wrong move, but she has made plenty of clumsy ones. I think the clumsiness-- as in her twisted syntax when she resigned her office-- is part of her authenticity. Obama's podium poise and iambic pentameter looks too studied, like a bad actor trying to upstage Shakespeare's lines. Palin's awkwardness gives her lines the ring of sincerity.....In little more than ten years, she's gone from a kitchen in Wasilla to the governor's mansion to the national stage. I don't think the proppulsive force of her career arc can be explained simply by luck. She must have had some cunning to have launched the rocket and some reserves of sanity to have made the flight without losing her balance.

And I see the MSM has suddenly become a lot more tentative about the way they cover the Tea Party, and Palin. After all, there just aren't enough liberal loons to support one outlet, much less all of'em.

Meanwhile, I see that PJTV is currently forcing registration in order to view - the Tea Party. Of course, the registration is "free," but apparently not the stack of monthly subscriptions waiting at the other end (sigh).

Well, maybe a random blogger, one who doesn't have a fallback, base salary of $168,000 a year - will blog the action.

The revelation to the church in Philadelphia was spoken by the one "who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens." That identifies Him as the Jewish Messiah coming to rule in Jerusalem. The way he operates is by closing one door while he opens another. Sarah Palin's door to Alaskan politics was closed the month that her door to National and Intrnational politics was opened wide. That is why the lefties who are all croaking out the meme that she quit when she turned away from a closed door and walk thru an opened door are baffled by what is happening. Now these same commenters tell us that she is only walking a road to no where, or that she is only preparing to sell out the Door Opener for this world's money. To those guys, I suggest that they hide and watch while C-4 and the liberals strangely begin working together in a futile effort to shut a door that no one can shut.

I told you so. I predicted all of this. Haven't found all of my comments yet about Palin during the campaign, but I predicted all of this - she is so charismatic that she can't be kept down, despite the over-the-top hatred and fears of her avowed enemies. Pundits and celebrites who slammed her will be forgiven - they shouldn't be, but they will be - as they are eventually forced to take her more seriously. Her book sales already shut up quite a few mouths on both the left and the right.

I believe her closest modern time model is Richard Nixon. I know - spare me the intelligence and experience comparisons. The only comparison that matters is ambition. And no one - NO ONE - even in 1962 thought of "President Nixon" as possible just 6 short years later.

"I have a theory. She just wants to make piles of money. That would explain everything, wouldn't it?"

AlphaLiberal said:

"Sarah Palin is a grifter. And a quitter."

In these two plain statements, Sarah Palin's character and ambition is succinctly described. There is no mystery to Ms. Palin; the mystery is how and why so many Americans see in her anything more than what she is, a narcissistic scam artist, whose every action is meant to benefit Sarah Palin.

@Chase: You really think that Nixon and Palin are an apt comparison? Certainly in style, Nixon seemed to always have a cloud hanging over him. Palin, by contrast, is all sunshine, lollypops, and rainbows. Nixon was very hard to warm up to. He's like the best plumber in town -- you call him to do the dirty work, but you wouldn't necessarily want him for a friend. Palin, on the other hand, IS "best friend" material to 1.3 million Facebook fans, according to the NYT article.

Speaking of which: You could pretty much write the same article about Al Gore -- another politician whose money-gathering capabilities and influence dwarfs their public service accomplishments and intellect.

If you'll notice, her garbled syntax is based on a certain hesitation to respond directly - preferring instead to go the long way around. For example, she needs to name names. She needs to call the culprits out, rather than dancing on policy questions she doesn't quite understand.

Couric and Gibson were sitting ducks, but she didn't see it, or sense it. It's one thing to give a good speech, but quite another to mix it up in a give-and-take.

It's obvious why she relies on Facebook, issuing statements rather than rebuttals.

I love Palin, but she needs to go for the jugular... or someone else will.

I also remember last April 15th when I read on some liberal blog sites that the TEA Parties that day were an epic fail. The writers seemed to think that if they repeated that often enough, it would make it true. Here we are, more than a year after the first Tea Parties (which predated April 15th by several months), and now it's all over the news still. And it was certainly a large component in Scott Brown's win. So, just as Sarah Palin is getting last laughs, the Tea Parties are doing the same.

Somebody has to say this: Ann thought Miss Sarah was dumb when she read an excerpt from the book. Now, Mrs. Palin is smart because she gains influence the way Ann does. I know a Great American Strategist taught us, "Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness", so does this post constitute contrition? ;-)

In any case, anyone who says she isn't qualified to run for POTUS some day is trying to tell themselves the current inmate at 1600 is in some (any) way more than her. The next Republican administration should probably offer her a Cabinet post to let her show what she can do. Then, if she isn't, we'll all know.

As for Alpha, I'd love to know what grift he thinks is being played. As for quitting, she's certainly shown why she did it and how effectively she's used her freedom to act.

WV "slinzb" What Alpha said when he realized Ann was right in what she wrote in this post.

the mystery is how and why so many Americans see in her anything more than what she is, a narcissistic scam artist, whose every action is meant to benefit Sarah Palin.

Okay, but what's the scam? Who is she scamming? Where is the falsehood or deceit?

If she's saying things people like to hear, how is that a scam? She's not asking for anything from the listener.

She's not like Jesse Jackson, shaking down companies for protection money. That's a scam.

Just making speeches and appearing on tv? Whether she really believes what she says or not doesn't make a difference because a lot of people like what they hear. There's really no reason to think her words aren't sincere since a large part of the country is sincere about those same words.

Sarah Palin is amazing in part because she seems unaffected by wave after wave of high-profile public condescension -- the favored rhetorical weapon of liberals and the left against their political opponents.

She's unaffected by it, because despite not having the qualifications of the "right" schools or instant recall of the name of the PM of Whogivesafuckastan or the titles of 2 or 3 books form the approved reading list on the tip of her brain, she actually understand the nature of power. And that means she understands that the Left fuels her 'us against them' shtick with their derision, and that there's more of "us" than "them". Without the constant fuel of progressive's white hot hatred she's just a former small state governor, with it she's a conservative martyr with a national stage.

Junyo...Sarah Palin is unaffected by the Media Slander Machine and political psyops developed over the last 60 years. That is what has amazed me for a year now. McCain was so afraid of its power that he refused to challenge Obama on his Marxist background. Sarah never hesitated. Now she she has run a pick and roll around the Machine's Alaskan ethics complaints and gone straight for the basket and dunked on the Media Masters of Destruction that thought that they had her trapped.

As for the quitter meme -- yes, she quit as Alaska's governor, but had she walked away from controversy before that? I don't know the answer to that question. She certainly was in tough positions before, going against corruption in her own party in Alaska, and people don't talk about her quitting there. I think it's tough to make the "quitter" charge stick if you can point to exactly one instance of her quitting.

I like her. I don't watch Fox News that often but I did catch part of her appearance on Bill O'Reilly and she seemed relaxed, confident, and on top of the facts. I think she's happy with her life right now and pleased with how much she can influence the political discussion. From where we are today, it's obvious she did the right thing resigning her office.

Palin is a right-wing, fundie and a quitter. Nobody cares about the Wasilla Barbie.

Which, of course, is why you're getting into such a snit about her.

Beth said...

Can't someone be both a blithering idiot and a devious genius? I'd bet some would characterize Bill Clinton that way.

Willie was more fool that idiot and the genius belonged to Dick Morris. Willie was and is the same kind of sociopath as Barry, which says a few interesting things about the American Left and the Democrat Party.

That would suggest that the left is using exactly the wrong strategy to neutralize Palin's influence.

I think that's exactly it. Progressives, despite claiming to be the party representing the "working man" have created a virtual social caste system, where if you didn't go to the right schools, or don't live in the right cities, or if religion is more than something you do on holidays, then your opinion can safely be discounted. They might pat you on the head, but ultimately they believe that you should be ruled by your betters. Lest we forget "Joe the Plumber". And Palin is tapping into that. During the Presidential campaign, there were a lot of Teamsters in PA asking why they should vote for two lawyers over the ticket where one of the candidates was married to a "brother member". When people throw out "right wing" and "fundie" they seem to lose sight of the fact that America remains a center right, deeply religious country, and given time to become comfortable with her negatives, a lot of the Democratic base will culturally self identify closer to someone like Palin than Obama. And at a certain point, the insults will make someone say "hey, they're basically talking about me." Especially if the "smart people" continue to demonstrate that even with massive majorities they still can't govern. I honestly don't think the average coastal/college town progressive understands the view on the ground in the hinterland. But ask Martha Coakley what happens when you lose the working class.

Beyond that, I don't know if Sarah Palin has any further political ambition; if I were her I certainly wouldn't, especially since in the information age she can gain fairly substantial and real political power w/o the hassle of elections. The President of the United States probably spends more clock cycles on what Rush Limbaugh says than he does on what the average jr Senator does. But as long as progressives reflexively attack her, she stays relevant, gets free publicity and a chance to deliver pithy sound bite counterpunches, all w/o the accountability of decisions on the record and people digging through your email and expense accounts.

For all practical purposes she's in Anchorage, the state's largest city, but there may be political advantages to stressing the suburban connection (and implicitly thereby, her political roots as city council member and mayor there).

As for the "open door" apocalyptic nonsense spouted by some commenters here, consider perhaps, instead, the much more commonly quoted verses from the Gospel, Luke 11:9-10:

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

Ring any bells? I would make a large, large wager that most people reading these comments who have even a casual acquaintance with Christianity or the Bible recognize these two verses, and that not more than 1 in 50 would recognize the ones from Revelations that you're so sure Gov. Palin was referencing.

WV: judessi -- doubtless an implied comment on the fake scholars of the Judeo-Christian tradition who smugly bash Gov. Palin here. Very appropriate.

@Junyo: One reason that Ann Richards lost the 1994 Texas governor's race to George W. Bush was because Richards couldn't STFU, and Bush used that against her. Richards would mock him mercilessly and often. Bush responded by treating her with respect. That, in part, made Bush look like the classier choice in the eyes of Texas voters.

But liberals never learn; and Conservatives and libertarians (and all of the tea party persuasion) are starting to recognize the advantage they have been handed. All they need to do is respond to liberal japes with courtesy and respect, and they'll look like the only grownups in the debate. Since most people like grownups in their government -- game over, conservatives win.

Sarah Palin owes Andrew Sullivan a huge debt of gratitude for building her career. For better or worse, Sullivan's blog gets mondo hits. Without his unhealthy and slightly perverse attention to the intimate details of her life, Palin's book wouldn't have been a major phenomenon, and she would have struggled to stay relevant. But as it stands, if Palin were sending Sullivan checks for the value added he brought to her earning potential, it would buy a hell of a lot of beagle food.

I ought to have included a link to Chapter 11 of Luke. Again, if you have even the most brief familiarity with Christianity, most of that chapter will ring a bell with you, since it contains some of the most famous verses in the New Testament, including the Lord's Prayer.

"Progressives, despite claiming to be the party representing the 'working man'...."

You're confused...there is no "Progressive Party" in America. You mean, obviously, the Democrats, not necessarily the same thing at all.

That said, the Democratic Party did, to a much greater extent decades ago, represent working people. But that Democratic Party is long dead, their self-serving rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. Both major parties today serve the interests of Wall Street and the corporate profiteers.

Whereas formerly both parties had liberal and conservative wings, today the Republicans have ossified into a far-right cult, with heretics ostracized, while the Democrats, who still have some degree of diversity among them, even a few (a very few) true "progressives," seems largely ideologically incoherent today. They espouse all the tried and true principles of "justice for the working man" and all that, and they are actually somewhat less primitive than the apes of the Republican party, but really...who's kidding who? They serve the same masters and support the same policies as the Republicans overall.

That is truly a bizarre claim. Republicans in office tend to be pork-snouted trough feeding swine. George Bush (both of them, in fact) are extreme socialists eager to expand the grip and the reach of the federal government. I don't know what you mean by the "right" because such terms are necessarily vague, but creating more federal agencies with more power is not really a small government ideology.

Apparently some now think that a younger Dustin Hoffman could play Palin as The Rain Man!

(Drum Roll)

************************

A commenter on another Blog asked me, rhetorically, of course,

How was it possible for progressives [his term] to simultaneously hold two mutually exclusive viewpoints of George Bush? They constantly accused him of being so inane as to be sub-human while at the same time being so manipulative and cunning that no one in the country could realize how evil he was.

My answer (edited) was that, as many Conservative Commentators have pointed out, Liberals/Progressives can be & are inconsistent without even themselves seeing the illogic in that. Since they get away with it, "illogic" has no meaning in the political context anymore.

On Day Two, Leftists, Liberals, Progressives categorize Conservatives as Malevolent Machiavellians (or is it Machiavellian Malevolents?) who are part of a VRWC.

On the other hand:

a NYT Op-Ed columnist

Asks: How can people simultaneously (a) rave about Obama’s eloquence and (b) concede that he’s not getting through to a lot of people?

And Answers: The Anointed Ώne is too “studious” for us and doesn’t understand. The profanum vulgus Americans are “suspicious of complexity”.

And Explains: “The president must communicate within the environment he inhabits, not the one he envisions. The next time he gives a speech, someone should tap him on the ankle and say, ‘Mr. President, we’re down here.’” If the American people only had The Anointed Ώne’s great intellect, temperament, & ‘attention span”, everything would be as it was at noon on 1/20/09.

Translation: Ya see, we are the ones not worthy of such a leader as he.

FYI, in a comment on a Blog thread in The Intellectual Conservative (Trolls: skip "oxymoron” references, pls.), I used the headline of this thread & set forth the comments herein by P V Bella & Pogo, both @2:48 PM., with attribution to you, but alas with the link to the NYT, not this thread.

Something struck me as I was reading your post. I've been reviewing various clips, comments, and speeches of President Reagan's today. Between the MSM of the day and all the political establishment . .Reagan was an outsider. An Upstart. I cannot believe he is saying what he is saying. He's awkward. He's an 'actor'. He's 'not one of the mainstream Republicans' or a 'mainstream' political figure for that matter. Gov Palin and President Reagan are two very different people in two very different times. However, there are some REALLY interesting similarities!

On what Liberals are now calling a non substantive matter, The Anointed Ώne needs his teleprompter programmed phonetically so he can avoid embarrassing mistakes like the one made the other day at the National Prayer Breakfast. Seems that not once but twice, while trying to say "corpsman," he, apparently following the “speak-as-you-spell movement” pronounced the silent “p” & “s” so that it came out "corpse-man."

Douglas MacArthur is spinning in his grave!

http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-mispronounces-navy-corpsman-twice/

As some wag said, it’s a good thing that a corpsman doesn’t wear a sword!

And when I bring up an Obama’s faux pas (the “x” & the "s" being silent, of course), Liberals & even some Conservatives say “we gotta get beyond that nit-picking stuff.

As Victor Davis Hanson said recently: “Bushisms became a media pastime, but no one suggests that a president who says Cinco de Quatro, or 57 states, or references the “Austrian” language is a Dan Quayle wrestling with potato.”

Ho, there, trooper! Time to rein in and dismount, give that charger a breather. George Jetson and Family are from that distant Future with flying cars and shrimpy industrial moguls named Spacely. In accordance with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics the dog is named after the team

Whereas formerly both parties had liberal and conservative wings, today the Republicans have ossified into a far-right cult, with heretics ostracized, while the Democrats, who still have some degree of diversity among them, even a few (a very few) true "progressives," seems largely ideologically incoherent today.

What frosts the NY Times is Sarah Palin is gaining traction not only without MSM support, but in spite of it.

This situation just reinforces the image of impotency of the once vaunted Times, WaPo and networks. No wonder Obama is badmouthing the blogs, Fox and now CNN (CNN had announced they were going to carry Palin's Tea Party speech).

The world of the legacy media is collapsing from a combination of financial ruin, disappearing audience and having lost the race with the new media.

"I, myself, did not think it was stupid, because I pictured her doing something like what she is actually doing"

Yeah, I figured she'd end up with a gig sort of like Al Gore with the dems. Smart move. She can fire on her enemies and if they fire back and hit, who cares... she's not the one running... plus the pay should be good.

You've never seen the WW II movies where the guy calls "corpsman"? Check with TY.

"Corpsman" rhymes with "posteriorman".

Interestingly enough, sometime in the 1990s the SEC changed its rules regarding disclosure of the "obscene" pay, etc. of a registrant’s "Top Five" & changed the term "remuneration" in the old rules to "compensation", without any explanation.

Some wag said that it was because some Commissioner couldn’t say "remuneration" without tripping over his tongue!

Hey, as usual, Obama's ahead of us: he's joined the “speak-as-you-spell movement”.

Whereas formerly both parties had liberal and conservative wings, today the Republicans have ossified into a far-right cult, with heretics ostracized, while the Democrats, who still have some degree of diversity among them, even a few (a very few) true "progressives," seems largely ideologically incoherent today.

"Diversity" meaning having public officials on either side of admitted socialist Bernie Sanders.

Meanwhile, please name ONE "ostrasized" Republican other than Snarlin' Arlen Specter, the ultimate ship-jumping rat.

The counter-revolution is on. The radical ideas of our founders are re-surfacing today. They had debates then. We have them now. That is not new. What is new is this: There is a ground-swell of Americans who have intuitively known something was amiss in our country, but were perplexed to get a handle on it. Over the last 12 months, there has begun a renaissance of the thinking of our founders, who were themselves radicals in their time, as Glen Beck has so clearly pointed out week by week. We as Americans have slowly lost our knowledge of our founding principles. But the tide has begun to turn. The average American is beginning to dig in, study, and learn about how the progressive movement has taken us off our foundations largely through the destruction of the American education system, and by losing touch with our American History.

Palin’s status is dumbfounding to most political pundits who are trying to analyze her moves. Is she running for president or not? Is she the leader of the Tea Party? Is she just making a good living for herself? What are her ambitions, really?

In the Tea Party Speech Saturday night, and especially in the interview following, she put it all on the table, but pundits just refuse to believe she is telling the truth,“I want to serve my Country in any way I can to help restore her, and I would be willing to die to do that”. We are so far removed from reluctant leaders like George Washington (try googling Washington reluctant leader) that we don’t realize that some people actually are NOT looking to acquire power, fame, riches. There actually are some rare ones who love our country and are public servants in the truest sense of the word. It is fair enough to test Palin, and see if she is for real. If she is, she is telling the truth when she says she doesn’t know what the future holds in terms of leadership. But right now she is fanning the flames of the most important work by energizing people to become active, to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech, to challenge their elected representatives on their decisions, and most of all TO BECOME WELL INFORMED NOT ONLY OF CURRENT EVENTS BUT OF OUR AMERICAN HISTORY AT ITS FOUNDING.

It may take three years to fully catalyze the transformation many of us are hoping for. One where our American identity is not subsumed into the World Order, as we loose our sovereignty. This can NOT happen with a handful of leaders, even if they are excellent ones. It has to be a broad-based awakening by us now living of the purpose of freedom God gave to us at our founding. That our inalienable rights have been bestowed by our Creator, as it is written in the Declaration of Independence, not by the government. Our understanding of these principles can no longer be superficial, if we are to survive. Our understanding must become deep. And largely we are ignorant of much that is crucial. We have become dull in our critical thinking abilities. But common Americans in tea party town halls throughout the country last summer challenged sitting Senators, like Arlen Specter, that he was not upholding the constitution. That woman has begun to read and study and learn American history, and when she spoke, she spoke with authority and conviction. She re-learned history, Lincoln was self-educated, and so we can too. There is no excuse.

The time is late. These issues are critical. We have an opportunity like none I have seen in my lifetime. Each of us has to engage, and work where we live to bring about the REAL hope and change, the REAL fundamental transformation of American back from its wayward progressive ways, to the core principles of liberty that founded the nation.

Palin is Nixon, so far without the overt paranoia. But after declaring Nixon washed up, his enemies - and trust me, they were more legion than anything Palin's seen so far - had no choice but to watch him go from "failed gubernatorial candidate" and "finished forever" in 1962 to 37th President of the United States in just 6 short years.

This "Sarah Palin was a blithering idiot until she became a devious genius." bullshit is the same thing ascribed to Bush. He was a blithering idiot until he became these devious, underhanded genius that actual setup something like 9/11. These leftists are devious idiots.

"Next open door" is not a Christian code phrase from fundamentalists, but rather a principle of operation the Holy Spirit taught the church beginning in Acts. If you are a one-verse kind of theorist, I'd pick 1 Cor 16:9, "for a wide door of effective service has opened for me, and there are many adversaries." However, it begins in Acts 16 where the Holy Spirit prevents them from their own plan but opens Macedonia to them instead, to great success. From then on, we hear Paul talking about looking for the opportunity or direction God provides. It's a team effort.

Palin has common sense. Something that is missing in a lot of politicians these days.

She knows with record deficits to go after the spending.

She knows with terrorism and war is to use the word "victory" and "win"

She knows with energy independence is to use what we have here.

She is also very likable and had charisma - which if you are a "hater" makes you look angry and vindictive.

It's like when the right goes after Jon Stewart, you can't beat a jester, so let him have his fun. When the haters go after Palin, you are attacking an image of the nuclear family and the middle class, not going to win people to your side that way.

Hmmm, the comment on Palin sounds eerily reminiscent of someone who was recently the titleholder to the Media's Idiot Savant of American Politics. You know that guy from Texas, who while incapable of putting two meaningful sentences together, had the innate, yet perverse skill to create such fiendish and sinister conspiracy plots on the American Populace, like invading Iraq for oil, and blowing up the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, without leaving a shred of evidence.

I cannot imagine anyone has forgotten George W. Bush, not with his name being invoked as the cause for every problem we face today, by the One and his staff.

"Somebody has to say this: Ann thought Miss Sarah was dumb when she read an excerpt from the book. Now, Mrs. Palin is smart because she gains influence the way Ann does."

You are misreading this post. The title is intended to be sarcastic. I don't think SP is either an idiot or a genius. I'm making fun of the NYT article for portraying SP as wily in setting up her new role. It's a funny contrast to how everyone said she was toast for quitting her job as Governor.

It's true I read the excerpts from her book that first came out in the press and characterized her as dumb for going into the McCain campaign and then not accepting that she'd be stuck with the decisions it made for her. She trusted their judgment that she was ready, but she didn't go all in and accept their judgment about everything. It was unworkable.

I don't understand all this talk about "is she running or is she not running." Read Going Rogue. There are metaphors throughout the book on.... running.

The theme of the book is, "I want to do things my own way, but I want to run, will the [media/party heads/public] just let me run in my own way?"

If you take that theme as her desire, then all her actions make sense.

Resign Governorship? Of course! It only weighs her down, its the traditional path to higher office. Resigning would be going Rogue wouldn't it?

Utilize new media and the "Rogue" nature of the tea party ideals? Of course that fits in the model of her path to higher office.

Get a gig on Fox News (the anti-cable news network)? Sure, this allows her to get her face on tv, make some money (but paltry compared to say moving to LA and doing the Rachel Ray path, which I'm sure she could have done). It also avoids the questions of why she won't go back on to do an interview with Katie Couric. She's got an exclusive deal with Fox can't do it!

Why is she doing it this way? It's obvious during the 08' campaign she realized that the Steve Schmidts of the world would never let her become President. She was a prop for the McCain campaign (she believes to their detriment).

If she just wanted to make gobs of money she'd move out of Alaska. Heck she should have enough money from the book to stay in Alaska very comfortably. It's not money.

Will her strategy pay off? Is there an alternative path to the white house than through the GOP party backslappers and the countless chicken dinners in Iowa? I don't know, it will be interesting to see at any rate.

When I first heard Pali speak at her VP selection announcement, my first thought was the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan. Nothing has changed that opinion. Reagan came out of the Democratic Party to be a candidate of ideas. Palin is coming out of the Republican doing the same. She is positioning herself outside the mainstream so that the mainstream has to run against her on her turf, not theirs. The greater question is not can she become President, but whether she can find the expertise to run the federal government according to her ideas. The Tea Party Movement people are not future Cabinet Secretary level people. Is there a sufficient talent pool of those who are ideologically in tuned with her to form a Palin government. For me that is the test that she must meet.

Basically, Palin is going to take over the Tea Party movement and use it as a vehicle to take over the Republican Party. From her standpoint, the only obstacle to running for national office is the cabal of pointy heads in the Republican leadership. The Tea Party is already a rather large thorn in the side of the Republican Party. Eventually Palin is going to run at the head of her own ticket or she's going to remain an unelected kingmaker.

Theo Boehm said... From Inwood's comments here, and his comments on the blog he links above (The Intellectual Conservative), are are more demonstrations to me, if any were needed, why he is my favorite commenter on any blog, anywhere, any time.

I'm a die hard conservative who thinks Sara Palin is still a blithering idiot. It's all a cult of personality just like Obama and everyone who buys into it are going to be just as disappointed as Obama supporters when they realize that the empress has no clothes.

For all those who compare Palin favorably with Reagan, give me a break. Over many years Reagan developed a cohesive conservative philosophy. Palin has a very weak, largely incoherent philosophy that consists mostly of empty sayings backed by nothing of substance. Like with Obama, people are seeing in her what they want to see and that is now very much by design. The biggest difference is that Reagan was a leader, Palin is just a charismatic follower. Just like Obama, only different stripes.

John Lynch, Crack Emcee, ricpic, in turn.John -- Perhaps Ms Palin wants to spend more time in Alaska so that she may have more time with her family. This seems to be beyond your ken, but within your sour-pussedness.Crack Emcee -- Clearly you have a wonderfully rye sense of humor and are well bred. Live and laugh forever!ricpic--a muckluck, or rather mukluk, is what you have when tramping thru mud, muck and mire, in someone else's new Eskimo boots.To all: Sarah Palin, a few years from now, will be recognized, not as a Ronald Reagan wannabee, but as an American personification of Joan of Arc -- with a happier ending.She cuts thru the anti-American airheads and pea-brained, pustulant, political poltroons like hot ExLax thru an already diarrheatic dastard.

This Alaskan sees her as a blatant liar and without leadership capacity. All show (that part that isn't full of plastic surgery). Despicable way to gauge a possible elected official. Her appointees in AK left a mess, hope emailgate* nails her. Pitiful that she faked the Trig pregnancy. The family is a mess. She has goal of money in her eyes.Cynical greed and you guys in lower 48 fall all over her. Joke on you. Yeah, and going to that movie Juno* is what faithful Christians do for date night. Is an Idiot with clever big money backers.